When you upgrade your data store from basic website search to advanced website indexing
Domain verification approaches
You can use one of the following approaches to verify your domain:
Domain verification using domain association: to associate your
Vertex AI Search data store to the specified domain.
This is useful when you're not the owner of the specified domain or when you
don't have access to the Google Search console needed to verify the domain.
In this approach, you need not contact the domain owner yourself, you can send
an association request to the domain owner through the Google Cloud console. The
domain owner can approve the association request through the Google Search
console.
Domain ownership verification: to verify the domain in the following
cases:
When you're the domain owner of the specified domain
When you can contact the domain owner for verification through the
Google Search console
When you have access to the Google Search console to verify the domain
Domain ownership is the ownership of the domain to which your URL patterns
belong. This is different from being the owner of a Google Cloud project, which is
an Identity and Access Management (IAM) role.
When you turn on advanced website indexing to create a data store, you can
verify the domain for the websites you are indexing after
creating the data store. If you don't verify your domain ownership, your website
can't be indexed using advanced website indexing.
Domain verification behavior
Understand the following domain-verification behavior:
When you verify the domains for your URL patterns, you are verifying the entire domain.
For example, suppose if you verify the domain for www.mysite.com/abc and later add
www.mysite.com/def to your data store, you won't need to verify the domain
for www.mysite.com/def. This is because www.mysite.com/def
is within the domain mysite.com, which is already verified.
When you verify a domain, that domain is automatically verified
for all data stores in that project. This persists even if in the future you
no longer own the domain.
If you encounter challenges verifying your domain ownership, contact your
customer engineer (CE) or Google account team. After verifying that your
organization owns the specified domains, the CE or your Google account team
submit a domain-verification exemption request to unblock you.
Verify your domains
When you create a data store specifying the URL patterns for advanced website indexing, you must verify the domains in the data store. You
can verify any time and the advanced website indexing is activated only after
the domain verification.
To verify the domains specified in a data store with
advanced website indexing using the
Google Cloud console, follow these steps:
In the Google Cloud console, go to the AI Applications page.
Click the name of the data store with websites for which you want to enable
advanced website indexing.
In the navigation menu, select Data.
From the Website tab, click Verify to verify all the domains in the
data store in the message prompting you to verify the domains.
Alternatively, click Verify in the Status column for the
URL pattern whose domain you want to verify. The Verify button is only
available after the indexing is complete.
In the Domain verification pane, expand the Verify the DOMAIN_NAME domain
section.
Verify the domain in one of the following ways.
Verification using domain association:
In the Initiate association request section,
click Send association request.
A preview of the email containing the association request that'll be sent
to the domain owner is displayed.
Click Send request to send the email to the domain owner. A
confirmation of your request is emailed to you.
If the domain owner for a domain is not found in Google Search, you
must reach out to the domain owner yourself and use the domain ownership
verification method to verify the domain.
If you don't get a response to your request within a week, you can resend
the verification request.
If you're the owner of the domain, the domain is automatically
verified after you send the verification request.
When the domain owner approves the association request, you receive an
email confirming the approval.
Domain ownership verification:
Click Verify in Search Console.
The Welcome to the Google Search console page appears.
Follow the on-screen instructions in the Google Search console to
verify a domain or a URL prefix, depending on whether you are verifying an
entire domain or a URL prefix that is part of a domain. For more information,
see Verify your site ownership in the Search Console
Help Center.
When you have finished the domain verification workflow, the Data page
for your data store appears. The Status column indicates that
indexing is in progress for the website.
Repeat for every URL pattern in your data store that requires domain
verification.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eDomain verification is necessary when creating a data store with advanced website indexing or upgrading to advanced website indexing from basic search.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThere are two methods for domain verification: domain association, where a request is sent to the domain owner, and domain ownership verification, which is used when you are the owner or can contact the owner.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eVerifying a domain covers all subpaths within that domain, eliminating the need to re-verify for new URLs within the same domain, such as verifying \u003ccode\u003ewww.mysite.com\u003c/code\u003e will cover any additional urls such as \u003ccode\u003ewww.mysite.com/def\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOnce a domain is verified, it remains verified for all data stores within the project, even if ownership of the domain changes in the future.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIf domain verification challenges arise, contacting your customer engineer or Google account team can lead to a domain-verification exemption request.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Verify website domains\n\nYou need to verify the domains for the URL patterns that you have included\nin your data store in these cases:\n\n- When you create a data store for website search and you turn on [advanced website indexing](/generative-ai-app-builder/docs/about-advanced-features#advanced-website-indexing)\n- When you upgrade your data store from basic website search to advanced website indexing\n\nDomain verification approaches\n------------------------------\n\nYou can use one of the following approaches to verify your domain:\n\n- **Domain verification using domain association**: to associate your\n Vertex AI Search data store to the specified domain.\n\n This is useful when you're not the owner of the specified domain or when you\n don't have access to the Google Search console needed to verify the domain.\n In this approach, you need not contact the domain owner yourself, you can send\n an association request to the domain owner through the Google Cloud console. The\n domain owner can approve the association request through the Google Search\n console.\n | **Note:** If the domain owner is not found in Google Search, you must reach out to the domain owner yourself and use the domain ownership verification method to verify the domain.\n- **Domain ownership verification**: to verify the domain in the following\n cases:\n\n - When you're the domain owner of the specified domain\n - When you can contact the domain owner for verification through the Google Search console\n - When you have access to the Google Search console to verify the domain\n\n Domain ownership is the ownership of the domain to which your URL patterns\n belong. This is different from being the owner of a Google Cloud project, which is\n an Identity and Access Management (IAM) role.\n\nWhen you turn on advanced website indexing to create a data store, you can\nverify the domain for the websites you are indexing after\ncreating the data store. If you don't verify your domain ownership, your website\ncan't be indexed using advanced website indexing.\n\nDomain verification behavior\n----------------------------\n\nUnderstand the following domain-verification behavior:\n\n- When you verify the domains for your URL patterns, you are verifying the entire domain.\n For example, suppose if you verify the domain for `www.mysite.com/abc` and later add\n `www.mysite.com/def` to your data store, you won't need to verify the domain\n for `www.mysite.com/def`. This is because `www.mysite.com/def`\n is within the domain `mysite.com`, which is already verified.\n\n- When you verify a domain, that domain is automatically verified\n for all data stores in that project. This persists even if in the future you\n no longer own the domain.\n\nIf you encounter challenges verifying your domain ownership, contact your\ncustomer engineer (CE) or Google account team. After verifying that your\norganization owns the specified domains, the CE or your Google account team\nsubmit a domain-verification exemption request to unblock you.\n\nVerify your domains\n-------------------\n\nWhen you create a data store specifying the URL patterns for advanced website indexing, you must verify the domains in the data store. You\ncan verify any time and the advanced website indexing is activated only after\nthe domain verification.\n\nTo verify the domains specified in a data store with\n[advanced website indexing](/generative-ai-app-builder/docs/about-advanced-features#advanced-website-indexing) using the\nGoogle Cloud console, follow these steps:\n\n1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the **AI Applications** page.\n\n [AI Applications](https://console.cloud.google.com/gen-app-builder/start)\n2. In the navigation menu, click **Data Stores**.\n\n3. Click the name of the data store with websites for which you want to enable\n advanced website indexing.\n\n4. In the navigation menu, select **Data**.\n\n5. From the **Website** tab, click **Verify** to verify all the domains in the\n data store in the message prompting you to verify the domains.\n Alternatively, click **Verify** in the **Status** column for the\n URL pattern whose domain you want to verify. The **Verify** button is only\n available after the indexing is complete.\n\n6. In the **Domain verification** pane, expand the **Verify the \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eDOMAIN_NAME\u003c/var\u003e domain**\n section.\n\n7. Verify the domain in one of the following ways.\n\n - Verification using domain association:\n\n 1. In the **Initiate association request** section,\n click **Send association request**.\n\n A preview of the email containing the association request that'll be sent\n to the domain owner is displayed.\n 2. Click **Send request** to send the email to the domain owner. A\n confirmation of your request is emailed to you.\n\n - If the domain owner for a domain is not found in Google Search, you must reach out to the domain owner yourself and use the domain ownership verification method to verify the domain.\n - If you don't get a response to your request within a week, you can resend the verification request.\n - If you're the owner of the domain, the domain is automatically verified after you send the verification request.\n\n When the domain owner approves the association request, you receive an\n email confirming the approval.\n - Domain ownership verification:\n\n 1. Click **Verify in Search Console**.\n\n The **Welcome to the Google Search console** page appears.\n 2. Follow the on-screen instructions in the Google Search console to\n verify a domain or a URL prefix, depending on whether you are verifying an\n entire domain or a URL prefix that is part of a domain. For more information,\n see [Verify your site ownership](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9008080) in the Search Console\n Help Center.\n\n When you have finished the domain verification workflow, the **Data** page\n for your data store appears. The **Status** column indicates that\n indexing is in progress for the website.\n8. Repeat for every URL pattern in your data store that requires domain\n verification."]]
